


Surrounded, Hounded

by jayyxx



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Crying, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Hurt/Comfort, Klaus Hargreeves Needs A Hug, Protective Diego Hargreeves, Sharing a Bed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-07
Updated: 2019-04-19
Packaged: 2019-11-13 07:34:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,903
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18027476
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jayyxx/pseuds/jayyxx
Summary: After of two weeks of quietly trying to stomach his grief with his face pressed into his pillow, he decides he needs a better technique to keep away his ghosts and calm the quarrel of emotions within him.Or, Klaus experiments with new and exciting coping methods!





	1. the first hit

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! Thank you for clicking! This is tagged both gen and slash but only to get my content out there! Please read it however you’d like, especially with adult!d&k :)!
> 
> Ah! I’ve been so excited to write in this fandom and it’s only right that I start by scratching my own hurt/comfort/crying itch. If you know me, then you know. 
> 
> A note before we begin: I ADDED FIVE FUCK i know he’s not supposed to be there but i just love him and didn’t want to change it so pls just forget that he’s not supposed to be around during this time. he should be there with his family during this time and that’s why he is. and this also follows the ‘numbers assign sibling order’ troupe (so vanya is the littlest sibling) ((and they’re like 15/16 here)).
> 
> (Title is from a TOP song but really this is inspired by 'ode to sleep') 
> 
> Anyways, enjoy the show!

The drugs began just months before Ben died. It seemed to be perfectly timed so that Klaus could be wonderfully numb on the nights where thoughts of his brother’s torn and lifeless on the tile floor filled his mind. Unfortunately, the drugs were hard to come by for a boy like himself, with no real connections to the outside world and no understanding of how it worked, and hard to keep, with a father such as his own. 

But the real reason he didn’t turn to the drugs was that Ben hated it when he did. _(Perhaps “hated” is a strong word, though he strongly disliked it and gave very disapproving looks every time he caught a whiff of whatever toxin he was using that day.)_ Using almost felt like betraying Ben, and Klaus would be dammed if that little brat came out to haunt him. 

So instead, after of two weeks of quietly trying to stomach his grief with his face pressed into his pillow, he found a better technique to keep away his ghosts and also calm the quarrel of emotions within him: loud, nearly obnoxious sobbing until sleep overtook him.

It worked great. 

Other than the fact that it was somewhat disturbing to those around him, and near impossible to get him out of it. Really; his family tried everything. Mom rubbed his back while Allison whispered sweet, positive nothings at him. Dad and Luther tried yelling, Five tried explaining away his griefs and Diego just straight up told him to shut up. Even Vanya’s music, or Pogo’s gentle reassurances, couldn’t calm him. He was a wreck. 

In retrospect, it wasn’t fair. Everyone else was grieving as well, and deserved their time (and quiet) to do so. But Klaus’ method was better than the latter, being drugs, and everyone knew that. There was a silent agreement between the rest of the family to leave him be. Until one night, only a few weeks after Klaus watched his little brother die, he thought he saw him again, in the doorway of his room. 

Klaus screamed, terrified of having to face his bother and know he could not touch him, or hold him, or wrap him up and thank every god he could think of that he was alive. Because he wasn’t, and that was scary. 

Only seconds after he thought he saw a ghost —which wasn’t unusual— it was gone, and he was left alone.

He’s fear and grief filled him like an overflowing bucket and he couldn’t control his body as he kicked back his blankets, body running hot and desperate for escape. 

The sound of his scream reverberated through the house and instantly set his family on high alert. Diego was at his door in an instant as Five popped up beside him and Luther and Allison came tumbling down the hall from their rooms. By the time Mom, Dad and Vanya had made it, Diego had Klaus wrapped in his arms, pressing him to the bed and shielding him with his body as the other Academy kids searched the room. They found nothing. 

Klaus continued to kick and yell, even as Diego tightened his grip, begging for him to calm down. 

“It was Ben!” He forces out, his mouth dry and jaw clenched. “It was Ben! I saw him!”

The family sighs collectively, sadly. They know how close Klaus and Ben were, and understand how, and why, he was taking his death so hard. 

“It was Ben,” he says again, “it was...” He breaks off with a sigh, and his body begins to still. The weight of Diego pressing him down, holding him as if to keep him from flying away. Slowly, his fear begins to subside, and his panic drains. He catches his breath, restricted as it may be under his brothers hold, and soon he’s breathing carefully, in his nose and out his mouth. As he does, Diego all but collapses on him, drawing him close by sliding his hands under his back and lifting him to his chest. He held his younger against him as he calmed. 

His family watches as it happens. 

“All of you, to bed now.” Dad barks. It makes Klaus jump, but Diego doesn’t dare move. “Deal with this.” He tells Mom as he grips Vanya by her shoulder and forces her to shuffle her feet out of the room. 

Mom comes to sit on the edge of Klaus’ bed and observes how his face is pressed into the crook of Diego’s neck, his arms and legs are splayed and limp, and how his brother his holding him tightly, arms wrapped around his smaller frame, flattening him to the bed. 

It’s the first time she’s seen Klaus calm at nighttime since Ben. Even when he sleeps he’s restless. 

She hears the familiar sound of Five appearing by the door. He peaks into the room, reminding Grace of her other responsibilities. 

She places a hand on Diego’s shoulder. 

“It’s o-okay, Mom,” he whispers, “I’ve got him.” 

She smiles. “You’ll stay with him?”

Diego nods and Klaus whimpers, deliriously exhausted. 

“Okay, dear,” she sighs. _Such a sweet boy._

She pops up to leave them for the night. On the way, she hooks Five around his shoulder and pulls him towards his room. “Is he okay?” He worries. 

She stops outside his bedroom. “Yes, baby. Diego is going to stay with him until he falls asleep.” Five doesn’t seem to believe her. She sighs and brushes back some hair from his forehead. “He just got scared, is all,” she tells him before kissing him gently beside her thumb. He twists his lip, but bids her goodnight, and heads to bed. 

Before heading off to her paintings, Grace checks Klaus’ room one last time. Diego has shifted off his brother so that they are curled together chest to chest. Klaus has his arms curled between them, and Diego’s are encircling him, protecting him from the horrors of Klaus’ own projections. 

“It’s okay,” she catches Diego’s whisper, “I know, I know, it’s okay.”

And with that, knowing her babies are all safe and moderately stable, she nods to herself and heads back up the stairs. 

Not another peep is heard until morning.


	2. the latest bite

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is post war!klaus generally having a shit time

There’s something hauntingly familiar about the scene he finds in the living room. 

Klaus is curled in a ball on the couch closest to the bar. The blanket he had has been kicked off and therefore he’s shivering, a sheen of sweat covering his bare back. He’s quiet but for the hitching of his breath, which echoes in the empty house. 

“Klaus?” He calls. The man in question flinched, and tightens into a ball. Diego shakes his head, worry filling his gut. As far as he knows, Klaus is still sober, but the position of his body reminds Diego of him as a teenager, curled on the floor in the bathroom after puking his guts out. Diego shakes the thought away. 

He comes to kneel beside him and touches his shoulder gently. “Hey,” he tries. His skin is cold to the touch. 

Diego leans back on his heels and takes off his own hoodie. The old house was (and often still is) cold. Even in rain or snow, their father was resistant to turning on the heat. Diego shakes his shoulder a little harder, and Klaus moves fast, swatting the hand away and sitting up to glare at the offender. 

Diego leans back even further. Klaus’ face is red and blotchy, streaked with tears running black. He’s wearing dog-tags around his neck, like those you’d get in the army. He takes a moment to realize who he’s looking at, and when he does, his face fills with emotion. “Di,” he whimpers. 

Diego gets half way through asking _where have you been—?_ before Klaus’ tears well up again and his hands start to visibly shake.

“...Oh Klaus,” Diego whispers as he draws his brother into his arms. Klaus falls into him like this was exactly what he needed; maybe it was. Maybe they still were those sad kids who clung to each other when times got tough. Klaus is numb in his limbs but slides his way off the couch in attempts to get closer to Diego. This lands him half in his brother’s lap on the floor, holding him for dear life. 

Diego’s heart breaks as Klaus calls his childhood nickname with despair. He can only whisper: “I’m here, I’ve got you, I’m here,” as his fingers dig into the bare flesh of his back. 

Klaus begins to hiccup, his cries choking off as he leans back to compose himself. He leans against the leg of the couch and wipes angrily at his eyes, smearing his eyeliner into black streaks around his cheekbones. 

Diego smiles brokenly, reaching over to carefully thumb away the colour, trying not to react as Klaus sits perfectly still, allowing him to help. 

“What’s got you all worked up?” Diego asks, with his hand curled against his face and his thumb rubbing under his eyes. 

A single tear runs from the corner of Klaus’ eye (Diego wipes that away too), but he smiles. “Nothing.” He drops his gaze to fall where they’re legs are tangled beneath them. He chuckles, but it’s sad. “I missed you.”

Diego doesn’t know what he means, he was only gone a couple hours, but he nods, his hands dropping from his brother’s cheek. “Missed you too.”

Klaus’ smile has gone loopy as Diego reaches over for his hoodie, which he had thrown on the arm of the couch. He pulls it down and orientates it, finding the biggest hole and holding it open, pulling it down over Klaus’ head. 

Klaus reappears with a shake of his curls, blinking blearily up at him. Diego sighs, somewhat dreamily, he notices. 

Diego shakes himself. 

“C’mon,” he begins, untangling himself from his brother. “Let’s get some lunch.”

As Diego stands, leaving Klaus in a pile on the floor, the younger man’s eyes begin to go spacey again, drifting off around the room. Diego reaches over to ruffle his curls, drawing his attention back. 

Klaus looks up at him and smiles, dreamily. 

It’s then that Diego realizes his brother is not entirely back to himself. He nods down at him, and sinks to his knees in front of him. “Okay, hop up on the couch. I’ll get you a blanket.” 

The direct order seems to be easier for Klaus to follow, as he unfolds his long legs and pulls himself up onto the couch. He lays his head against the side pillow as he had been before, and nuzzled against it. Diego found a quilt from somewhere in the room and draped it over him. 

Klaus was clearly much more relaxed, his eyes shut and lashes flared against his cheeks. He was no longer trembling and his breath was even. As Diego fixed the blanket around him, he thought of the young boys they once were; curled together in their twin mattresses. He thought of all the nights that Klaus’s terrified sobbing could not be calmed but for him holding him close, reminding him he was safe, alive. What was real and not. 

Klaus had seemed to slip into an easy sleep that Diego would be stupid to interrupt. So, he squeezed his shoulder and left him to rest. He’d be close by, if he was needed. He always was.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading! I’m excited to continue this and will have more stuff up soon! 
> 
> luv u guys <3 
> 
> visit me @ [ghostcas](http://www.ghostycas.tumblr.com) on tumblr!
> 
> Edit 04.18.19: ok so. I had a second chapter to go in between these two but it wasn’t working out. I thought better to give you this then to never finish it. Who knows, maybe in another month Ill be ready to face the second chapter. Until then; this.   
> Thank you again for your kindness :*


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